Opposing

How to spell opposing

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce opposing

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does opposing mean?

1. adjectiveOn the other side of a contest, conflict, or argument; in conflict with something.
2. verbActively resisting or arguing against a person, plan, or idea.

Opposing in a sentence

• adjective

  The opposing team scored twice in the final minutes.

• verb

  Residents spent months opposing the new motorway.

• adjective

  The lawyers presented sharply opposing views on the contract.

• verb

  She built a career opposing corporate tax loopholes.

Where does opposing come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb opponere, which combined ob-, meaning 'against', with ponere, meaning 'to place' or 'to put'; quite literally it described setting one thing up against another. The base ponere is enormously productive in English and lies behind a whole family of relatives such as 'position', 'compose', 'deposit' and 'postpone'. The form reached English through Old French opposer in the 1300s, and the participle 'opposing' followed naturally as the action of placing oneself against something. The spelling trap lives in the prefix: because ob- assimilated before the p of ponere, the result doubles the p (op-pos), so writers who hear only one strong consonant are tempted to write a single p. Remembering that 'opposing' shares its 'op-pose' core with 'opponent' and 'opposite' helps lock the double p into place.

How the word is built

• op- (from Latin ob-: against)
• pos (from ponere: to place or put)
• -ing (present participle / adjective suffix)